a normal life

Isha had never been Damon's favorite prayer. Mom never drew much attention to it when he was younger, and Stefan rushed his way through the rhythmic motions. Tonight, they even rushed through the du'a. Dad skimped on Qur'anic verse, Stefan rushed through his recitations, and for once, Mom didn't chide them.

With Thomas and Katherine waiting outside, Damon supposed they had a point. Guests sometimes took priority. Mom and Dad, he noted, weren't particularly keen on allowing these doppelgangers in.

So it was Stefan who had to break the silence and ask, from the safety of the Manor's threshold, "Why're they here?"

"I brought them," Damon said, swallowing his pride (and probably his dignity). "We don't leave people to die, Stefan."

Mom and Dad shared amused looks, laughing to each other in muted Arabic (or Italian? Ita-bic?). Damon made a mental note to yell at them for it later, even though Thomas joined in their laughter.

"We won't be long," Thomas promised, purposefully lingering outside. He could've stepped through the door any minute, and yet he chose against intruding. He really wasn't like any of the other vampires. "I uh, I wanted to apologize to Zach."

"For what?" Dad had to ask, raising his eyebrows. "Kidnapping my son?"

"That, yes," Thomas coughed. "But also just… not telling your family about me?"

They took a walk around the Manor's perimeter, talking in hushed tones about traditions and histories and what-could've-been's and what-should've-beens. Damon figured, he should let them be.

Mom seemed to agree, as she nudged Stefan inside. "We'll get dinner ready, gattino."

Stefan blinked back surprise. "We will?"

"Yes, habiti," Mom called, practically dragging him in through a levitation spell.

Damon couldn't even wave them off in time.

"Well, that wasn't obvious at all." Katherine said with a laugh, "They must've really wanted to give me the chance to talk to you."

"So talk." Damon leaned against the side of his house, feigning nonchalance, even if he had an idea of what Katherine wanted to say. "We've got all the time in the world now."

Katherine pressed her lips together. Her shoulders were hitched, like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, and her stilettos were rooted into the brown grass beneath her.

"Thank you." The words felt foreign from her tongue, and her hesitant, awkward tone betrayed her nerves. "Tommy told me what you did for me, and… you had no reason to."

"No, I didn't," Damon agreed.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "So why'd you go through with it?"

Had anyone else, he might've concocted some grand lie about a witch's instinct to heal and protect everyone, regardless of what evils they had wrought. But when it was just him and Katherine, Damon figured – she deserved the truth. Even if it didn't make much sense to him.

"It didn't feel right," he admitted, forcing himself to meet her eyes.

Under this dusky sky, she had shed her bravado, her rightly-earned arrogance. She was a seventeen-year-old girl, and he was the grown-up stubborn enough to save them all. They may never be on good terms again. They also cared for the same person, and that was enough to connect them.

When Katherine didn't reply, Damon continued, "I hate you. Make no mistake about that, but you're important to Tom and Bonnie…. and that makes you family. I don't know what the hell the Pierces believe, but - "

"Petrova," Katherine softly corrected. "The name you're looking for is Katerina Petrova."

"Point is, you're family, whether you like it or not. I can't leave you to die anymore."

She smirked. "That attitude's going to get you in trouble someday."

"Maybe, but it kept you alive, didn't it?"

Her cheeks flushed a bright red, right as Tom and Dad returned from their walk.

"Anyway," Katherine said with a cough, sliding her hand into Tom's like it were second-nature. "Thanks again. We'll leave you alone, Salvatore."

"Not in this condition," Dad said, scrutinizing them. "Come in and take a shower, and then you two can hit the road."

Tom nodded, taking the verbal invitation as permission and holding the door open for everyone as they walked in.

"You know, Dad," Damon began, allowing his father to ruffle his hair, "You've changed."

Dad's laugh was so hearty it could've shaken the Manor to its very foundation. "Not as much as you have, my son."

Katherine and Tom left the next morning without a grand good-bye. Just a bouquet of white roses, hand-picked and hand-delivered to the kitchen table the next morning, along with Tom's phone number.

Just in case you have another vampire problem, Tom had written along with it, but I hope you won't need us.

"We sure won't," Stefan had said, raising his head defiantly and tracing his fingers along with Tom's ornate cursive. "We've got this under lock, right, akhi?"

"Damn straight." Damon reached out to lightly bump his fist against Stefan's. "But uh, I've got something else to take care of, so I'll catch you later."

Even at this time of year, the orchards outside the Bennett home felt vibrant. Damon could've sworn they bent back to allow him entry – but he didn't exactly have time to dwell on that. Clutching a gift bag in his right hand, he took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

Please still be home. Please let him atone for all the insults he had slung in her face, and let him make everything right. Like he should have, all those months ago.

Then the door had opened, and Damon had never felt so relieved to see Bonnie on the other side.

He held up the bag in an awkward gesture of greeting, "Hey, Bonnie."

Bonnie gestured towards the bag. "Is that from Stefan?"

"From both of us, actually. We don't really celebrate Christmas anymore, but we figured…. Here." Damon's cheeks grew red.

Surely she wouldn't have accepted such a gift, if she knew it was really from Damon and Damon alone. Stefan would make a decent excuse; his kindness was well-known. He insisted on showing everyone a good time, and well? Damon figured, maybe his little brother was finally rubbing off on him.

"Mistletoe," Lexi called from behind the door, cupping her hands and staring up at the doorframe. "You know what that means!"

Guh! Damon jumped back at her voice. He hadn't expected company. Surely Lexi had better places to be, and much better people to spend her immortal and nowhere-near-limited time with?

In the spirit of tradition, though, he supposed he could oblige. He leaned down, cupping her face and lightly pressing his lips to her cheek.

In her ear, he whispered, "Is she always this annoying?"

"You'd better believe it," she murmured, taking the opportunity to plant a kiss on his lips.

For once – maybe because of the season, or because they had the world's most annoying spectator – he didn't mind.

He could smell the lingering scent of freshly brewed tea in her sweater, and taste the citrus on her lips, and – truthfully, he had imagined how their first real kiss would go a hundred times over. He had imagined and re-imagined this scenario until he was sure he had exhausted every option.

There had been the shut-up kiss. The desperate "I love you" kiss. The one where literal fireworks went off behind them.

Those fantasies didn't live up to the truth.

Smiling into the kiss, he nestled his fingers around the nape of her neck and returned the love with every ounce of his will.

"Oh, get a room," Lexi's voice called, in that all-too-annoying voice as she disappeared into the kitchen.

Damon let go only to breathe, "She might have a point."

Bonnie's smile, in that moment, was as wide as the Cheshire Cat's as she slid her hands right up under his sweater. "I do have a bed."

Scooping her up into his arms – and ignoring just how precious her unexpected shrieks were - Damon laughed and turned towards her spiraling staircase. Nothing had changed about the Bennett home, and yet, somehow, everything had changed too.

"Then what're we waiting for? Let's get some use out of it."

author's note

We made it all the way to the end! Thank you for sticking around to hear this story - and while an epilogue may be on the way, this is where we leave our fair heroes. All your support was immensely appreciated, so seriously. You readers are the entire reason we saw this to completion!